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Twelve O'Clock High

- This is an excellent black and white WW2 movie [132 min] from 1949 with Gregory Peck playing as an American general who takes command over a troubled bomber group from England in 1942. It's about the "maximum effort" asked from those WW2 pilots and their struggle to do their duty. Real aerial battle footage from WW2 is used in this movie. Who likes the WW2 aviation should see this movie. Orita 12/13/05

I have this movie and Gregory Peck does an awesome job in here. One of the best psychological war movies around. Really jumps into the minds of the pilots and what they had to go through. Also if you like this, try the War Lover with Steve McQueen.

- I have on DVD the movie "Twelve O'Clock High", a 1949 movie which won 2 Academy Awards [best sound and best supporting actor for Dean Jagger]. The movie is based on a novel but is a 100% realistic movie showing the almost impossible job the WW2 Allied pilots had. --- I saw years ago "The War Lover" movie [black and white from 1962] which is also a very good one. Both Steve McQueen and Robert Wagner play as American pilots in England during WW2. I do remember the end of the movie when Steve McQueen hits the high cliff of Dover [England] returning from a mission. That particular part [as a WW2 pilot] did fit Steve McQueen like a glove. He also went to the train engine [travelling to London in the movie] to drive the train because he just felt that way. A great movie but unfortunately I don't have it on DVD. Orita 12/13/05

"Twelve O'Clock High or 12 O'Clock High is an American military drama series that aired on ABC. The series ran for three seasons from September 18, 1964, to January 13, 1967, and was based on the 1949 motion picture of the same name.

The series follows the missions of the 918th Bomb Group stationed at Archbury, England during World War II. For the first season many of the characters from the movie were retained, including Brigadier General Frank Savage, Major Harvey Stovall, Major Cobb, Doc Kaiser and General Pritchard, albeit played by different actors than in the movie. In addition to these characters several other infrequently reappearing characters were introduced, including Captain (later Major) Joseph "Joe" Gallagher who appeared twice.

At the end of the first season, studio executives decided a younger looking lead actor was needed. In the first episode of the second season, General Savage was killed in action and replaced by Joe Gallagher, now a full Colonel. In reality, the younger looking Burke was two years older than Lansing. According to executive producer Quinn Martin, he had decided to fire Lansing because he had become difficult to work with.

For the second season, most of the supporting cast from the first season was replaced with the exception of Major Stovall, Doc Kaiser and an occasional appearance by General Pritchard. Other actors who did reappear after the first season played other characters. This trend continued throughout the other seasons. Edward Mulhare appeared twice, as two different German officers. Bruce Dern appeared four times in three different roles. Tom Skerritt appeared five times, each time in a different role.

The first two seasons were filmed in black-and-white. This was done mostly to allow the inclusion of actual WWII combat footage supplied by the United States Air Force and the library of 20th Century Fox.The inclusion of combat footage in the series was often obvious as it was often quite degraded. Limited usable combat footage often resulted in the same shot being reused in multiple episodes. For the third season the series was filmed in color but only ran 17 episodes, being cancelled in mid-season. Some of the combat footage used for the third season seemed to be black and white footage tinted blue. In later episodes, Gallagher flew as a "pathfinder" in a P-51 Mustang. This plot element was added to cut production costs. The single-engine, Mustang cost less to fly than the four-engine B-17, and required only a single pilot rather than two pilots and several extras needed for bomber scenes.

As with most television programs, Twelve O'Clock High was created in episodic form. There is no particular order in which the episodes have to be watched. A trio of episodes produced about a shuttle raid to North Africa were in fact never aired in story order. The stories themselves were often based more on character drama than action, usually involving individuals who felt the need to redeem themselves in the eyes of others. Other story lines focused on actual war events such as the development of bombing through cloud cover using radar and the complexities of operating a large fleet of (often malfunctioning) B-17 Flying Fortress bombers."

"Twelve O'Clock High is a 1949 war film about crews of the United States Army's Eighth Air Force who flew daylight bombing missions against Nazi Germany and occupied France during the early days of American involvement in World War II. The film was adapted by Sy Bartlett, Henry King (uncredited) and Beirne Lay Jr. from the 1948 novel by Bartlett and Lay. It was directed by King and stars Gregory Peck as Brigadier General Frank Savage, Gary Merrill as Colonel Keith Davenport, Millard Mitchell as Major General Patrick Pritchard, Dean Jagger as Major (later Lieutenant Colonel) Harvey Stovall, Hugh Marlowe as Lieutenant Colonel Ben Gately, and Robert Arthur as Sergeant McIllhenny.

The film was nominated for four Academy Awards and won two: Dean Jagger for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, and Best Sound, Recording. In 1998, Twelve O'Clock High was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".